Remote elevator monitors (REMs) have become common. The status of various elements and various operational parameters of the elevator are typically sent by a communication link, which may be telephone or some other media, to a central monitoring and control station. Remote elevator monitoring of this sort may be as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,568,909, 4,622,538, 5,450,478, and more modern systems which have evolved therefrom.
A typical prior art response to an elevator malfunction that requires immediate attention is illustrated in FIG. 1. When a malfunction is reported by an elevator owner 23 or by a REM 24, a service mechanic is assigned 25, 26 to an urgent service call to the site of the elevator, referred to hereinafter as a “callback”. When a service call is assigned to a callback mechanic, it is placed on his/her queue 27 with other service calls, without any knowledge of whether it is a five minute repair or a longer repair. Further, the emergency or harmful nature of the call may generally not be known; for instance, car or hallway doors may be continuously opening and closing in a repetitive fashion. Many times, the callback mechanic will arrive on site 30 and the elevator will be working 31, with no failure being apparent 32. If the callback mechanic can provide a repair 36 he will do so, and report the incident with a callback code 37. If nothing is to be done, he simply reports 39 that the elevator was running on arrival.
At times, the problem with the elevator is simply the fault of the electric power being supplied over the grid by a utility company. Frequently, the call will be answered without the necessary repair part, and at times, the callback mechanic will not have sufficient knowledge to determine what the problem really is; in such cases, a second callback is required to restore elevator service. In many cases, the callback mechanic may be able to perform some simple function on site to restore elevator operation, which does not justify the delay, waiting for the callback mechanic before restoring service, nor the time spent by the callback mechanic, including traveling. Service calls are also costly.